The Scott Aqua GTX LF are long gauntlet-style gloves with a Gore-tex waterproof and breathable membrane, a soft insulated liner and long zippered cuffs to help get them on as well as reducing their profile for layering with outer layers. They offer no palm padding and there are no concessions for any touchscreen use but the gloves perform well in wet weather and remain warm in the low single figures. Do they do enough to make it into our best mountain bike gloves category?
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Scott Aqua GTX LF glove - Technical details
Scott Aqua GTX LF gloves are large black cold and wet weather riding gloves made mostly from a polyamide fabric for the main outer layer of the glove with a Gore-tex membrane to keep your hands dry and warm in foul weather.
The Gore-tex membrane not only provides the all-important waterproof duties but also means that Aqua GTX glove is breathable allowing your hands to sweat and not get damp and clammy when ride conditions change. The 5cm zippered gusset is designed to make it easier to pull the gloves on and is itself protected by a neoprene gusset to prevent moisture from getting in.
The palm is made from polyurethane material with a very small diamond textured finish for grip and features what Scott calls their Second Skin palm padding which in reality means no actual padding, allowing maximum dexterity and control for the user.
Between the palm material and the Gore-tex membrane is a layer of insulation and a soft fleece liner sewn in to prevent it from pulling out when you remove your hand. Scott does not give an operating temperature for this glove which is a shame but clearly, it's considered a winter glove in their range so we must assume between zero to low single-digit use.
The gloves have large nose wipe sections on each thumb, and lots of reflective accents on the back of the hand, the outer two fingers and the sides of the index fingers. There are also reflective stripes on the inner surfaces of the first two fingers for maximum visibility when waving or signalling.
Scott offers a useful hand measurement tool which you need to print off for both your hand length and your hand width. Glove sizes are given about hand width as Scott suggests that this is the most important factor in determining the correct size glove. Using this tool indicates that I should be in medium gloves but I have longer fingers, so the advice is to go up a size in this case to Large which is what have on test here.
The gloves are available in six sizes, XS to 2XL are available in one colour black and cost £69.99
Scott Aqua GTX LF gloves - Performance
The Aqua GTX gloves have more than a passing resemblance to skiing gloves which is no surprise considering Scott’s other areas of interest in skiing. They look like serious winter gloves with only a slight nod towards cycling.
On the bars, the gloves are fairly bulky due to their construction and insulation on offer and, while it is reasonably comfortable to hold the tops, there is very little shaping to their palm area so you can feel the extra material bunch up as you curl your hands around the bars.
Although the gloves feel snug with a generally good finger length fit and good palm width, there is not enough material between the index finger and the thumb (known as the Purlicue area) and, as a result, it feels too tight when riding on the hoods. Scott's sizing is a little awkward for me as the palm width is good as is the finger length but there is already some excess material in the palm area, so I wouldn't want to go up a size with a wider palm and more material just to get a slightly longer thumb.
They have a slim gauntlet wrist profile which once pulled on and zipped up provides an excellent barrier to the elements with a subtle band of material around the opening making a good connection with elasticated jacket cuffs edges (as long as they are not super tight). If they are then you will have to try to wear the gloves over the jacket cuff which is awkward and provides poor protection in rain but works okay in the cold.
This is an issue for all gauntlet-style gloves and one that Scott has done well to mostly overcome with their slim wrist design. I tried the gloves with Endura GV500 Waterproof, Rab Cinder Downpour and POC’s Signal jacket (in the pictures) and all wriggled over the cuff and produced a good fit and didn’t ride up when riding.
However, that zip is pretty hard to grip and pull up when you have one large insulated glove on and almost feels like you are going to break the zipper or the zip by pulling so hard. I would have thought that a knotted pull cord tab attached to the metal zip would be a better bet here, at least in grip terms.
The zips are water-resistant versions and the neoprene gusset prevents moisture and most of the cold air from getting through although I did start to feel the cold on one ride when I couldn’t get one of the gloves under the sleeve cuff and had to leave it undone outside.
Worn at around 0-6 degrees Celcius in changeable drizzle turning to rain, these gloves provided enough warmth and thankfully remained waterproof for two-hour winter rides. I would not have wanted to be out for much longer in the lowest single-digit conditions as I could feel my hands starting to get chilly on the coldest rides. They performed best above zero degrees and kept the rain off for the duration of my riding.
On warmer rides, the Aqua GTX’s Gore-tex prevented my hands from getting too hot and sweaty which can be unpleasant, especially if you have to take them on and off a lot for repairs, phone use or cafe stops.
Scott opted for a Second Skin plam design no doubt to try and alleviate the overall padded feel of the gloves and offer the best possible feel on the bar or hood through the insulation layer.
To be fair to Scott it mostly worked, as using GRX Di2 or the Sword shifters was not an issue during the test but trying to press the small buttons on the GPS head unit was nigh-on impossible due to the fat fingertips. Unfortunately, that lack of palm padding results in less trail surface vibration damping and therefore tired hands on long rides.
The reflective sections on the fingers work whether you are riding on the hoods or flat bars with little stripes on the side and backs of the first, third and fourth fingers. The Scott logo provides an extra small reflective logo on the middle of the back of the hand which will help when signalling and the inner stripes provide further reflectivity for oncoming vehicles making this a great pair of winter nighttime gloves and very well-suited for winter commuting if that's your thing.
It would also have been brilliant if those reflective stripes on the inside of the index and second finger worked as touchscreen contact points, but sadly this is not the case. No amount of finger wriggling delivered any connection to the head unit or the phone screen whether out in the cold or sat at my desk whilst I typed this.
This is disappointing as once these winter gloves are on, you want to avoid removing them to use your phone or head unit. This seems like a glaring oversight in design. However, if you don’t need this feature, it doesn’t matter, but more and more of us are using phones for pictures and communication whilst we ride and it seems an oversight.
Scott Aqua GTX LF gloves - Verdict
At £69.99, the Aqua GTX gloves slide in neatly below both the POC Thermal gloves and the Castelli Perfetto Max gloves, which have both been very impressive.
The £95 Castelli Perfetto Max offers a super warm flexible and close-fitting weatherproof glove. It’s not as waterproof as the Scott but is super comfortable and very warm. Castelli does make a more waterproof glove, but if it's dry, damp, and cold this is a great option.
POC's £80 Thermal Gloves are super warm, very breathable and almost waterproof just not quite packing the Gore-tex membrane technology. We liked them a lot and they are a good option for cold wet rides.
100% offers a range of gloves for cold or wet riding and the best of the line for us is the Hydromatic Brisker Glove which offers great protection from its waterproof membrane and increased cuff length and insulation for warmth all for only £40.
Overall, the Scott Aqua GTX LF glove delivers good wet-weather protection and decent levels of warmth from its gauntlet design, which is slimmer than some but is still a little bulky on the bar. The tight-fitting cuff offers great pairing options with most jackets and only its lack of touchscreen technology and the awkwardness of the zip pull mark it down. These gloves represent a good option to keep your hands dry as long as possible in cold weather.
